Facebook has been hit by legal action from German drug manufacturer Merck KGaA.

The pharmaceuticals company has accused the social networking giant of handing its account with them over to US rival Merck & Co.

Merck KGaA's lawyer Robert Horowitz claims that the firm entered an agreement with Facebook in 2010 for the rights to www.facebook.com/merck, but has since reported the "apparent takeover" of the account.

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Horowitz claims to have emailed the networking site about the issue but found that its staff "either did not understand the problem... [or were] intentionally giving unresponsive answers". He also said that Facebook staff were unavailable by telephone.

Merck KGaA has taken legal action over the matter, filing a petition with the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The complaint notes: "Merck is considering causes of action for breach of conduct, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with prospective business advantage, and/or conversion."